MIA Born Free Video ....amazing hot cool important real

MIA (மாதங்கி 'மாயா' அருள்பிரகாசம்)'s new video for the BORN FREE song was taken down by youtube because of their "content policy".

Directed by Romain Gavras, it features nudity, graphic violence and a plot where ginger haired people are rounded up by pissed off soldiers into an armour-protected prison bus, driven to the desert and either shot or made to run through a minefield.............

M.I.A, Born Free from ROMAIN-GAVRAS on Vimeo.

The soldiers have American flag patches, and one ginger haired person is wearing a keffiyeh (outside of the Middle East and North Africa the keffiyeh first gained popularity among activists supporting the Palestinians in the conflict with Israel)......yet in the video plot there is no particular struggle explicitly addressed.
But by addressing no specific struggle, she addresses all struggles.

It is really common for white/western/rich/privelledged people to have ADJUSTED, NORMALISED and feel DISTANCED and UNAFFECTED by violence, genocide, torture, discrimination and war in non white/non western/non rich communities........we are living in a world where white people assume that violence and oppression inevitably happen to the "other." .. .. . . .

But by showing white red-haired people brutalized for no discernible reason other then being white with red hair, the video has induced "shock and horror".... mostly with people who identify with the white ginger physically or geographically.

SOOOOO by demonstrating white people suffering brutal violence, white viewers cannot automatically "otherize" them and are forced to consider the reality of violence and oppression.

And awareness is the very first step to action. so of course, this video was taken down from youtube. im sure there were ALOT of complaints from disturbed, pissed off white people who cant handle images of systematic oppression.

MIA is a really great artist who puts alot of time and thought into everything she makes, and i think she is really fucking successful at using her fame to affect people and make social/political commentary and change through art....which i think is actually really, really hard to do. So much art fails when it tries to do anything real or say anything beyond ego shit.
here is a quote from MIA:

"The Third World deserves freedom of speech just like everyone else. We want to fight the battle to say what we want, whether to be serious or just make fun of ourselves. That's what 'Worldtown' is about, that's what 'Paper Planes' is about. It's what people in the third world live through."

MIA released this statement when the "war on terror" was announced......
"You can't separate the world into two parts like that, good and evil. Terrorism is a method, but America has successfully tied all these pockets of independence, struggles, revolutions, and extremists into one big notion of terrorism."

MIA was born in London. Then her family moved to their native Sri Lanka when she was six months old. While her father worked as a political activist with the Tamil Tigers, she was displaced until the age of eight due to the country's civil war. She moved with her mother and siblings to India to escape the violence, and eventually she and her siblings returned to London as refugees.

As for BORN FREE VIDEO.......
im so glad this got made and i think its hilarious that it got taken down from youtube, what a fucken joke!!! Good on MIA for making it, she is a fucken mastermind goddess....

PS-it was only put on the net on the 26th april (two days ago)
and just then when i searched it, it was 61st most popular search on google in the past hour....... number one was the new season of The Hills. .....ugh

PPS- yes it samples the fuck out of suicide, but her song 'paperplanes' sampled the fuck out of The clash. who cares? the first world "samples" the fuck out of EVERYTHING from every country its exploiting....., the whole fucking system that we live in, and economy is built on theft, genocide, invasion and slavery. MIA sampling is these bands is something we should be thanking her for. its like G rated restorative justice ......we shuld be grateful

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a cool blog you should check out

this picture was made by Jen Mussari
and this picture is from the http://nativeappropriations.blogspot.com/ Blog !!

im not going to personally write about appropriation. but i will bring it up, and i will offer some links and ideas.
previously we linked up to post on the axximilation blog about appropriation. (those hyperlinked words will take you to those posts).... and everyone should read that.

also these articles..
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/eastbay/burners-torched-over-native-party/Content?oid=1369150

these quotes are taken from the above article link.....
More than fifty Bay Area Native American rights activists converged on the historic East Oakland property at 9:30 p.m. to ensure the shutdown of popular Burning Man group Visionary Village's "Go Native!" party. The fired-up Hopis, Kiowas and other tribal members spent more than four hours lecturing the handful of white, college-class Burners about cultural sensitivity until some of them simply broke down crying.

this quote is also from the article, made by an un named woman
"I'm trying to articulate my feelings as best I can without completely losing it," she said. "What we do is not an artistic expression. And you don't have artistic license to take little pieces here and there and do what you want with it. That's something you people don't understand, probably never will understand."
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i think this is an amazing statement that alot of people should read and think about.
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also this article
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/to-the-hipstershippies-on-native-culture-%E2%80%93-please-stop-annoying-the-fuck-out-of-me

a quote from the article
I strongly ENCOURAGE you to do some actual research and knowledge seeking so you might get our culture right and think twice about things like permission and respect before you act on your appropriation.

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calling out people is really hard work.
everyone (including me!) needs to listen when people are doing this work.

PEACE

nova mc, holly fluxx, ultra violet mc OLD VIDEO FROM GANG FESTIVAL

GANG FESTIVAL 2007 .....

check it out, i was just looking and youtube and saw this.
i forgot it existed!!!

me (ultra violet mc), and NOVA MC and HOLLY FLUXX and CANDY from SISTA SHE......
spontaneous accapella rap in 2007!!!!
as a part of the indonesia-australia Gang Festival. http://www.gangfestival.com/

myspace is a "wasteland"

myspace is dead. -- oi, so this is really really obvious and we ALL figured this out, like more then 1 year ago, but i just read this comment by brendan webb on FB

"logging into myspace is like walking into a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie.
the number of 'friends' you have on there means absolutely nothing and spam is rampant.....
it's a wasteland... it's an ok way to showcase your music and ... let people know when you're doing a show but there has to be a better solution..."

hahahaha i love that its called a wasteland. its so fucking true and interesting and amazing

GUEST POST BY OUR FRIEND SPOOK, A VOICE FROM A DIFFERENT AESTHETIC: IN LOVE W/ TINTYPES

Hey!! Does everyone know about how intensely good looking modern day hobo and steampunk fashion is?? They are two really different sub cultures with really similar styles of clothing worn extensively through-out North America.

Steampunk fashion seems like a bunch of wankers trying to look old-school merged with modern day technology. I'm not really interested in this scene at all, other than the fact that their fashion looks REALLY GOOD.

Who wouldn't want to be able to dress like this every day??



The most exciting thing about the steampunk fashion is the the science fiction/fantasy element to all the clothing and gear. If Mad Max was set in the U.S. this is what all the houses would look like....


And this is what all the "boys" and "girls" would look like.....


And we'd all get to play guitars that look like this....


And shoot dickheads with guns like this!


(Not that i advocate gun usage, seeing as guns were invented by white war mongering supremacists in the first place. But... These guns look pretty amazing and i'd use one of these if i really had to.....)

Modern day Hobo's on the other hand, are good looking, AND lead interesting and adventurous lives!! They spend most of the summer hitch hiking and hopping freight trains, and the long winter months working hard, studying, or staying on the road/rail, searching for meaning and living daily missions of discovery and defiance.



When i was traveling in the U.S. i went train hopping with a bunch of hobo friends and met some incredible artists, musicians and story-tellers along the way. Not one person looked boring or bland either, can you believe it!!?!



One of the absolute babes i met was a persyn called Dinah DiNova, who is a modern day hobo, writer, photographer, artist and musician. They grew up in Hollywood and their mother was the breeder and trainer of the Beethoven dogs (from the movie!!) >> how cool is that!!?
Here is a picture she took of herself being held aloft by a group of friends....


Something so incredible and interesting is their style of photography. They use an old-school method to create tintype photo's on the spot! Tintypes are made by creating a direct positive on a sheet of iron metal that is blackened by painting, laquering or enamelling. This is so rare and beautiful! Here are some photo's they made last year with some friends........




I highly recommend checking out her Flickr page (http://www.flickr.com/photos/knitbone/) ASAP, she is a genius! Also she is HUGELY INSPIRED (as i am) by the one and only Rosin Bean James. Acknowledgment and respect to that amazing person also.....I <3 br="" of="" states="" the="" united="" whatever="" xoxoxoxoxoox="">